"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" - Voltaire

27 April 2014

Tor: Is it still kosher?

Top-secret NSA documents, disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveal that the agency's current successes against Tor
rely on identifying users and then attacking vulnerable software on
their computers. One technique developed by the agency targeted the
Firefox web browser used with Tor, giving the agency full control over
targets' computers, including access to files, all keystrokes and all
online activity.

But the documents suggest that the fundamental security of the Tor
service remains intact. One top-secret presentation, titled 'Tor
Stinks', states: "We will never be able to de-anonymize all Tor users
all the time." It continues: "With manual analysis we can de-anonymize a
very small fraction of Tor users," and says the agency has had "no
success de-anonymizing a user in response" to a specific request.